LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Fighting for fairness. Some Clark County School District athletes and performers are sitting on the sidelines while they watch others compete or play.
Being a part of Jesters improv is a passion project for Maya Swift. A senior at Durango High School, it’s an activity she looks forward to.
“Doing this just made me gain more confidence in who I am as myself and who I am as a performer.”
They’ve been performing and competing virtually against other CCSD schools during the pandemic for more than a hundred hours. With sports and performing arts able to come back in person, a plan was to have an in-person championship event, but they’re unable to do it. It’s frustrating for Swift, especially seeing football and other sports already playing.
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"We’re pretty much closed out to do what we enjoy when other people can do that when they have the privilege of being a sport,” she said.
Makenna Higbee is a member of the golf team at Legacy High School and is hoping for a college scholarship, but she and her teammates have not been allowed to play. Girls’ golf still isn’t on the CCSD list of sports for intramurals.
“I feel like golf is that one sport where you can social distance so easily and you are outside and it’s super easy to wear a mask,” she said.
The district says for girls’ golf, it’s a scheduling conflict.
“We rely on outside facilities to run those sports, so we do run into a conflict where we have right now spring sports which is boy’s golf where girls golf season is at another time of the year, so that’s the complexity. We want to bring them back as soon as possible,” Mike Barton, chief college, career, and equity officer for CCSD, said.
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The district also says it made performing arts the same priority as sports for in-person events.
“We’ve already made some allowances for performing arts and concerts to occur with spectators and we’ve provided that guidance to our schools so that should be happening,” he said.
Swift says she started a petition to have an in-person championship event. She understands district officials have had a lot of work but wants them to understand how much this activity means in helping them get a chance to shine outside of academics.
“This is their first time nominated for anything with the possibility of receiving feedback that they are doing well in something and that changes a lot of things within someone.”
So far, the petition for improv performers to compete in person has gathered more than 400 signatures. They would like to see this event happen in early May.
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